Maulana Azad Library 4.86

The Maulana Azad Library is the central library of Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh, India. It is the second largest university library in Asia. The seven-storey building is surrounded by of lawns and gardens. It has about 1,400,000 books. It celebrated Golden Jubilee on 7 December 2010.It got a donation of about 5000 books which were the personal collection of Kaifi Azmi.Nabi Hasan serves as the current University Librarian of the library.HistoryFoundingThe foundation of the Library was laid in 1877 at the time of establishment of the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College by Lord Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, the then Viceroy of India and it was named after him as Lytton Library. The present grand seven-storied building was inaugurated by Late Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India in 1960 and the Library was named as Maulana Azad Library, after a great scholar, educationist, statesman, freedom fighter and the first Education Minister of the independent India.HoldingsThe library's collection includes about 1,400,000 books, along with periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, paintings and photographs. It aims at supporting students from all departments of the university.The library has a sizeable collection of early printed books in many languages including Latin translation of the Arabic work Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham (965-1039) published in 1572. The Library holds an invaluable collection of 15,162 rare manuscripts, one of which written on parchment in Koofi script is claimed to be inscribed by Hazrat Ali (the fourth Caliph of Islam) 1400 years ago. Other items in the collection include several farmans (decrees) issued by Mughal rulers (including Babur, Akbar, Shahjahan, Shah Alam, Shah Alamgir, and Aurangzeb); a "shirt" on which the whole Qur'an is inscribed in khafi script; the Ayurved written in Telugu; and works by Bhasa written in Malayalam on palm leaves.